Hook told Billboard that the animosity meant that he would no longer rejoin the band if asked and added: "This does need to stop. It's getting beyond a joke. Even I'm looking at it now and going, 'Oh, my God. This is ridiculous'.

"I mean, we're both musicians trying to earn a living and get on with it and this constant sniping is not good for either of us and it is very, very childish.

"This does really strike me as 'the lady doth protest too much'. Especially when they have got everything back that they wanted... Maybe they are just feeling like a jilted lover."

He described the current New Order lineup as a "New Order tribute band" and added: "They are as much New Order as I am Joy Division.

"In a funny way, now that I'm New Order, they are as much New Order as I am New Order."

Of Bernard Sumner saying that Hook's decision to tour Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures had "opened the gates of hell", Hook retorted: "I'm afraid that the world is full of much more important things than two fat old blokes arguing about [whether I] left the band or [we] split.

"I opened the gates of hell? Oh, pack it in, mate. We're just f**king arguing and the sad thing is, when it comes down to it, we're arguing about money, so that's a ridiculous thing to say. "